https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/147034 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:10:18 GMT 2026-04-06T22:10:18Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/145098 Incentivizing Collaboration on Space Sustainability: Detectability, Identifiability, and Trackability of Space Missions Slavin, Maya The world has increasingly come to rely on satellites to provide services such as navigation, global communications, banking, national security, and weather forecasting. However, as satellites are launched into space at increasing rates, the risk of collision between active payloads or with pieces of debris rises exponentially. One of the initiatives to combat congestion is the Space Sustainability Rating. The Space Sustainability Rating is a rating system commissioned by the World Economic Forum in 2018 that scores a space mission on how sustainable it is for the long-term usability of the space environment, particularly in regards to debris mitigation and collision avoidance. It aims to incentivize more responsible design decisions by satellite operators and encourage the acceleration and establishment of sustainable norms of behavior. One of the six scoring modules in the Space Sustainability Rating is the Detectability, Identifiability, and Trackability (DIT) module. This thesis builds on the earlier work that was done to develop the first version of the DIT module and makes three primary contributions to it. First, it investigates using the previously proposed concept of orbital zip codes for the Identifiability scoring process and then suggests an alternative scoring methodology based on constructing Cypher queries that count the number of similar space objects that could make identifying a given object more difficult. Second, this thesis demonstrates how ASTRIAGraph, a knowledge-graph database that combines data from multiple space data sources, can be used to facilitate parts of the DIT analysis. Finally, it conducts a multi-case study to examine how missions from regions outside of the United States and Europe score in the DIT module and whether there are factors related to the national contexts in which they were developed that impact their scores. Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/145098 2022-05-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139343 Mediating the Marginal: A Computational Analysis of Representational Hierarchies, Aesthetic Tourism, and Queer Imagination on Instagram Souza, Garrett Images are world-building technologies, engendering futurity through collective imagination. An ontological trace of visual culture positions media technologies as sites of both regulation of and resistance to racial, sexual, and gender norms.. The rise of computational media and neoliberal sociopolitics has paradoxically both destabilized and bolstered visual hegemony, expanding Black and queer representation and visibility through a new vanguard of empowered visual creators, while also facilitating old traditions of oppression and co-option with an unprecedented precision, surveillance, and opacity. This project leverages a computational analysis of algorithmically curated imagery to situate Instagram within a lineage of technologies used to visually mediate marginality, particularly focusing on how how race, gender, and sexuality are structured within hypersegregated queer spaces on Instagram. Analysis of skin tone presentations, emoji usage, and engagement metrics within the #gay search feed reveal a continued erasure of Blackness within mediated content, in tandem with widespread co-option of Black aesthetics. A coupled differential reading of dominant representational paradigms, hashtag usage, and normative generative modeling within the Explore feed of a gay-coded user further exposes the co-option of Black and queer aesthetics, as well as an overwhelming promotion of hypermasculine and homonormative content. These results suggest that, while contemporary visual power has certainly diffused to previously marginalized positionalities, this reallocation is contingent on market capital, assimilation to normative ideals, and continued marginality. Results are directed towards a discussion of how imagery, image-making, digital media technologies, and computation might be used in service of liberatory praxis. Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139343 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130865 Developing the detectability, identifiability, and trackability analysis for the space sustainability rating Steindl, Riley M. Three of the core activities in maintaining Space Situational Awareness (SSA) efforts are the Detection, Identification, and Tracking of Anthropogenic Space Objects (ASOs). For much of the space age, the onus for improving global SSA has fallen primarily on the ground-based satellite surveillance and tracking community, leading to more technically advanced and powerful sensing systems. With the focus on improving sensor design for SSA purposes, designers of surveillance and tracking systems have been able to push the envelope of observing increasingly smaller ASOs. Meanwhile, ventures in the use of nanosatellite and picosatellite architectures for commercial business models have become increasingly popular due to their lower material and launch costs. The proliferation of these small ASOs has made it easier than ever to add to the orbital population while also stretching thin the increasingly taxed ground-based sensing systems on which the world depends for SSA.; With the number of ASOs in orbit increasing rapidly, effort is required from both the sensing and satellite communities to ensure that humans can maintain adequate SSA for the foreseeable future. To aid in these efforts, the Detectability, Identifiability, and Trackability (DIT) analyses have been developed through this thesis work to quantitatively assess how difficult it is to detect, identify, and track ASOs from the Earth as a function of orbital and spacecraft characteristics. The DIT analysis first assumes a fictional network of medium quality ground-based sensors with optical and radar observation capabilities that are distributed in geographic locations around the world providing excellent coverage in high, middle and low latitudes.; The Detectability analysis utilizes geometric approximations of the shape of an ASO, along with its orbital parameters, to produce estimates of its visual magnitude and probability of detection by radar, in order to determine whether or not an ASO is likely to be detectable by the assumed ground sensor network. The Trackability analysis characterizes how the ASO's orbit interacts with the generically defined ground sensor network over time. Utilizing access statistics for both optical and radar sensing modes, the Trackability analysis calculates the percentage of the orbit that is tracked by the network, average time between ground sensor access and the duration of the access. These metrics inform how much information is available to improve state estimation for the ASO. Finally, for the Identifiability analysis, the vision is to describe how difficult it would be for an uninformed observer to determine if a given ASO can be matched to a known record in a catalog of space objects.; The author has been exploring an approach proposed by Professor Moriba Jah of the University of Texas at Austin based on clustering analysis of ASO orbital angular momentum data. Currently this analysis is limited to the population size data for each cluster, but work is underway to incorporate ASO characteristic data. The goal of including characteristic data is to consider groups of satellites that share common characteristics as sharing a so-called "orbital zip code". The analysis asks how many objects within a given orbital zip code are indistinguishable from the ASO based on data that can be observed by a ground observer with no prior information about the ASO. This paper delves into the specifics of the analysis and discusses the current plans for its implementation. While still a work-in-progress, work is underway to address the limitations of the analysis and improve its functionality.; The author has also been working closely with the developers of the Space Sustainability Rating (SSR), an initiative to create an incentive system to reward operators of satellites that take actions to reduce space debris and collision risk. The methods from the DIT analysis will be used as one of the scoring inputs for the Space Sustainability Rating. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, February, 2021; Cataloged from the official PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 117-120). Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130865 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130609 Designing for voice in the vacuum : property in citizenship for democratic equality for future spacefarers Reed, David Colby. The hostile environments of space will require that human life beyond Earth be mediated by many advanced technologies and the many operationally prescriptive systems needed to manage them. Such sociotechnical systems will be characterized by hierarchy, routine, and continuous monitoring. Any humans living in space will spend the entirety of their time under conditions characterized by such systems. Under constant surveillance, totalizing hierarchy, and circumscribed routines, the prospects for democratic social relations appear dim. I offer up several frames that can be used to consider social relations among future spacefarers. By considering perspectives on technology studies, group psychological processes, and legal institutions I explore the question of democratic equality in space from multiple perspectives. I suggest that contemporary discussions of designs for future spacefaring society should center on how those designs will influence democratic equality, and I offer some preliminary sketches of what this might look like. I view my contributions as synthesis and reframing. My hope is that this work begins to bring subject matter experts who do not typically apply their expertise to space to do so. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, September, 2020; Cataloged from the official PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 66-71). Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130609 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129283 SCRIBE : crowdsourcing indigenous knowledge Muniyappa, Prathima. The Ethnosphere is woven into the matrix of the biosphere as a simultaneous duality, and yet cartographers of disciplinary territories raise boundaries to dis-entangle the dialectic dualities: Nature from culture, scientific knowledge from indigenous knowledge and the form from the formless. The project of modernity with its predilection for organizing knowledge into disciplinary silos served to render the boundary between nature and culture impermeable. Myths, folklore ,language and heritage are animating phenomena for the human experience of mediating matter ,establishing networks that permeate boundaries between life-non life, human- other than human, form and the formless.; This research will journey through the overt but out-of-sight ecosystem transformations that are instigated from historically muted indigenous tribes and will develop a method of conservation of indigenous knowledge that is in-situ, espouses a critical conservation approach, engages with the issues of indigenous self representation and offers defensive intellectual property protection. It explores the design of a tool called SCRIBE to crowdsource and document oral histories, ecological memory and indigenous knowledge and practices relating to ecosystem management using new media. The tool can be used to and spatially correlate such media alongside earth observation data and scientific studies on resource conservation emerging from the same geographies.; Re-positioning two ontologies: the scientific and indigenous, in juxtaposition with one another, dismantles the false divide between these two categories and presents an opportunity to combine two sets of data sources that are rarely ever combined, and privilege vastly different ways of knowing. In crystallizing process into product and research into a technology that can be used for conservation, the thesis will seek to dwell deeply on devising the methodology of interaction with the communities, on the co-creation of a structure of engagement, of humbling learning from both their knowledge and their ontologies. This will inform the design principles for a tool that can address the complex questions of justice that underly the politics of knowledge conservation. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, September, 2020; Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 102-106). Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129283 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129198 A study of emerging space nation and commercial satellite operator stakeholder preferences for space traffic management Lifson, Miles(Miles Thelonius Keylor) The near-Earth space environment is a finite, shared resource. Trends including reduced launch costs, electronics miniaturization, and preference for resilient, disaggregated architectures are driving significant growth in the orbital population. Existing systems to coordinate and manage space traffic do not scale to this higher level of utilization or promote the efficient and equitable use of space. There is growing need for both new technical space traffic management (STM) systems and policy regimes to coordinate activities going to, in, and returning from space. This thesis describes several contributions to developing this integrated corpus. A literature review of proposed STM architectures highlights gaps in understandings of emerging space nation STM perspectives and commercial operator attitudes on data sharing. Based on United Nations documents and interviews with emerging space nation representatives, a set of four recommendations is developed for future international STM development efforts. These recommendations stress affordability, achievable technical requirements for participation, inclusive system design, and careful consideration of satellite control allocation. Through a review of operator U.S. regulatory filings and new interviews with operators and experts, operator attitudes are traced successively through 1) potential STM domains and functions; 2) per function data requirements; 3) concerns about data sharing; 4) attitudes towards data protection mechanisms; and 5) influence on potential STM system design. Key insights include the importance of operator perceived self-benefit from data sharing, and significant heterogeneity in operator data sharing attitudes. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, September, 2020; Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Technology and Policy Program, September, 2020; Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-213). Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129198 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127496 Exploratory design methods and techniques in support of space mission concept development B. De La Torre, Lizbeth(Barrios De La Torre) I Designers are ubiquitous in the Consumer Product Industry, the Automotive Industry and Entertainment. Fields such as Product Design, Transportation Design and Entertainment Design emphasize finding solutions to problems using Exploratory Design Methods and Techniques. However, there is not a direct appreciation or understanding of how to utilize these Methods and Techniques within Aerospace. This thesis explores opportunities within the Space Mission Concept Development process where exploratory design methods and techniques may be supportive, and where these techniques are currently used. The work develops a design library of Methods and Techniques used outside of Aerospace that may help teams reach the goals of Space Mission Design defined by the milestones within the NASA Flight Mission Lifecycle. The thesis analyses Exploratory Design Methods used in other industries, such as Design Thinking, Human Centered Design, Imagineering and Science Fiction Thinking and shows how these methods can be subdivided into a common set of techniques, such as Storyboarding, Sketching and Prototyping. Interviews with employees within Aerospace and the Consumer Product Industry may shed light on opportunities and barriers to utilizing these Techniques. This thesis hopes to fill a gap in literature by framing the current state of Exploratory Design Methods and Techniques within Space Mission Development and laying the groundwork to begin utilizing a wider variety of Design Methods and accompanying Techniques. This thesis also contributes to documenting the roles that Designers have played in the Aerospace Industry throughout its history and argues for the benefits of including Design professionals within Aerospace teams as valued contributors. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, May, 2020; Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 150-156). Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127496 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127489 Earth observation technology applied to environmental management : a case study in Benin Ovienmhada, Ufuoma. Coastal ecosystems provide habitats for a wide variety of plant and animal species. They also provide many benefits to humans in the form of transportation, subsistence, and economic opportunity. These benefits are at risk due to both anthropogenic and naturally-occurring environmental harms. Effective management of these environmental harms is important to protect the ecological balance of an ecosystem and the benefits that humans derive from them. Decision Support Systems (DSS) enabled by environmental and socioeconomic data can help inform effective management. However, data cannot always be incorporated into the decision-making workflow for a multitude of reasons from awareness, to interpretability, accessibility and cost. The research outcomes presented in this thesis address processes that (1) enable a stakeholder to set priorities for the design of a DSS and (2) utilize earth observation technologies to enable low cost data collection of parameters relevant to a stakeholder. These processes are studied through a case study on Lake Nokoué in Benin Republic with the stakeholder Green Keeper Africa (GKA), a social enterprise located in Benin. Lake Nokoué faces several challenges with sustainable water management due to an invasive plant species known as the water hyacinth, and anthropogenic pressure from population growth and lake-dependent economic activities. Earth Observation technologies are applied to demonstrate (1) a method for detection and long-term analysis of water hyacinth growth trends, (2) a method for detection of a traditional fish farming practice, (3) a method for long-term water quality sensing and (4) methods for validation of all data results. The results of this thesis show progress towards creating a multi-data stream DSS that can be used by GKA, government, and community members to engage with the Lake in a manner that preserves the lake's health while protecting the ecosystem services of the surrounding human populations. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, May, 2020; Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-153). Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127489 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122681 A micro- and macro- analysis of human-machine interfaces and systems in space Joseph, Christine Humans and machines interact with each other on a variety of scales. Interactions can involve tightly coupled interfaces or even be socio-technical in nature. In terms of large complex systems, humans learn to interact and access these systems in the context of dierent social, political, technical, and economic environments. And yet despite this breadth, research on human-machine interactions on all scales depends on having metrics for evaluation and platforms upon which measurement can take place. This thesis investigated the utilization of new metrics for studying human-machine interfaces and systems at a micro and macro scale. At the micro scale, we investigated how humans may strategize to move their bodies in order to complete a agility-based running tasks. For a slalom course, an optimal control model was formulated to analyze the characteristics of an optimal path trajectory to complete the task as quickly as possible.; Opportunities to improve the model were informed by the utilization of a \micro" system - wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) devices. While the path trajectories estimated from these devices have limitations, IMUs offer an opportunities to measure human movement in natural operational environments. In the context of space exploration, such natural environments could also include planetary surfaces with reduced gravity. To evaluate how locomotion might change in such conditions, the optimal control model was used to investigate how an optimal path trajectory would change while completing the slalom task in reduced gravity. The results demonstrated that as gravity decreased, it would take a human more time to complete the task and the curvature about turning regions would decrease (wider turns).; The results and limitations of the model in nominal and reduced gravity conditions demonstrated the strong influences gravity and ground reaction forces have on the path trajectories humans can execute. Investigating some of the limitations of the optimal models depended on having experimental trajectories estimated from the IMUs as a platform of measurement. Reflecting on how the curvature of the path trajectories decreased as gravity decreased, the metric of integrated curvature was proposed for analyzing the path trajectories of humans completing an agility task. The feasibility of using this metric was analyzed via a pilot study of another agility-based running task. Along with other common metrics of characterizing agility and path trajectories (task completion time and path length), the integrated curvature metric was evaluated using both optical motion capture (Vicon) and wearable IMU measurement platforms.; The pilot study results demonstrated that subject performance in terms of completion time, path length, and integrated curvature could depend on the structure of the task and whether a subject had a priori knowledge of the task goal. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that there are opportunities to leverage the integrated curvature metric via the wearable IMU measurement platform to make decision-making conclusions. Wearable IMUs offer a measurement platform that could be utilized in natural field settings, including reduced gravity planetary environments. But in order to test out and improve metrics for IMUs in these conditions, we require access to reduced gravity research platforms. Accessibility to microgravity platforms is complex and dependent on a variety of factors beyond just financial costs.; And just as it is important to use human performance measurement platforms and metrics that can be leveraged in dierent operational environments for generalized user populations, it also important that access to microgravity research platforms is available for non-traditional partners. Non-traditional partners include users like startups, early career academics, emerging space nations, and education outreach groups. In order to capture the complexities and nuances behind accessibility for end users in the microgravity research ecosystem, new metrics of economic openness and administrative openness were proposed. The current and future microgravity research ecosystems were surveyed using case study research methods. Systems architecture methods were utilized to analyze the stakeholders and forms of access (pathways) present in the ecosystem.; Analysis demonstrated that mixed public/private pathways can foster relatively high economic and administrative openness, but these levels of openness can decrease dependent on the capabilities and type of the end user and the type of funding sources used at dierent stages of the pathway. Opportunities exist to refine the accessibility metrics and add new dimensions of analysis. Whether it be for wearable devices or microgravity research, by refining metrics and examining platforms now, we can help ensure accessibility to these systems for any type of user in the future. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.; Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2019; Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Technology and Policy Program, 2019; Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 153-165). Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122681 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46371 The use of satellite-based technology in developing countries Wood, Danielle Renee Satellite technology in the areas of remote sensing, communication, and navigation can provide valuable information in a number of areas from business to disaster management to agriculture. There is great potential for such technology to help solve problems in developing countries. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, expertise, equipment or awareness, developing countries are not using satellite technology to its full potential. This thesis is motivated by a desire to increase and improve the use of satellite-based technology in developing countries. Three Research Questions guide the study. Question 1 is, "How does national development level relate to national space activity?" For this question, national development level is measured by a series of Development Indicators such as Gross Domestic Product. The level of space activity is measured using a Space Participation Metric that is created by the author. Statistical analysis is used to learn if there is any significant difference in the space activity of countries at different development levels. Research Question 2 asks, "What Mission and Management Architectures are developing countries using to apply satellite-based technology to national needs?" The data used to answer this question comes from 90 Space Project Case Studies about satellite-enabled activities in Africa. The information from the Case Studies is organized so that trends can be found in the accomplishments of the projects. Research Question 3 asks, "How does national development level influence the Mission and Management Architectures used by developing countries in satellite-based technology projects?" This question builds on the data from Research Question 2.; (cont.) Statistical analysis is used to determine if African countries at different development levels perform differently in the Space Project Case Studies. In addition to addressing these three Research Questions, this study explores the policy context of African countries through a series of interviews. Thirty interviews were held with representatives from African embassies in the United States. The interview questions explore the institutional structure of the country?s National Innovation System. To summarize the results, the analysis for Question 1 shows that there is a significant difference in the space activity of countries at different development levels. Question 2 shows that most African space projects involve either one African country or a collaboration with a non-African partner. The third Research Question shows that there is a significant difference in the level of technical expertise and programmatic leadership shown by African countries at different development levels. This study closes with policy recommendations for developing country policy makers about next steps for using satellite-based technology. Thesis Supervisor: Annalisa Weigel Assistant Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems Division Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2007.; This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.; Includes bibliographical references. Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46371 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z